A Nightmare In The Kingdom
by RayRayofCali
Summary: What happens when a dark figure from Rapunzel's past comes back in her dreams? And I don't mean Mother Gothel. A certain burned man wearing a red and green sweater comes back through Rapunzel's dreams. Rated for Violence. R&R.
1. The First Nightmare

Eugene awoke and rolled over next to him to cuddle with his wife only to find an empty space. He slowly opened his eyes. There was a note left on the pillow. He sat up and read it.

_Dearest Eugene,_

_I didn't want to wake you. I know you like to sleep in on the days when we don't have lessons. Anyway, I'm out shopping and probably won't be back until later this evening. Pascal is being left under your supervision. He was pretty tired so I decided not to bring him along. Anyway, save some waffles from breakfast for me! XOXO!_

_Forever Yours,_

_Rapunzel Fitzherbert_

Eugene looked around the room and found Pascal fully awake on the chair. Eugene decided to get up and get dressed. He held out his hand for Pascal to get on. Pascal walked onto his hand and they both went down for breakfast. Of course Eugene asked for seconds for Rapunzel. Rapunzel loved waffles. Eugene spoke up at the table.

"Do you guys know where Rapunzel is?" The Queen looked up.

"She didn't tell you?" Eugene didn't know that they knew. "She's out shopping. Every girl needs a shopping trip once in a while."

"Where?" He continued to add extra syrup to his breakfast.

"I don't know. Somewhere around the town square probably. She doesn't leave past the bridge alone. Do you have plans for the day as well?" Eugene looked up. He would've liked to spend the day with Rapunzel. Mostly bedroom activities. He wanted to take away her innocence since she said she wanted to start a family. Not that she really knew what that meant. But she wasn't here. He did have one job though.

"I have to watch Pascal."

"I'm sure Pascal can manage on his own. Anyway, there's an opening for a new shop in the village that my husband and I are attending. Do you wish to come?" Eugene thought about it. He didn't really want to. Sitting in a chair for almost 2 hours? He always liked activity and not being lazy. It was bad enough that he had a strange dream last night. He wanted to tell Rapunzel about it, but she was already gone.

"Eh, not really. I'd like to stay indoors today. Don't know why, I just do. Besides, Openings aren't really my thing." The Queen shrugged.

"That's okay. What do you plan on doing in the castle? Bothering the guards again?"

"Probably." The queen rolled her eyes.

The day went on. Eugene went for a walk in the garden, messed with the guards, and read his favorite book in the Royal Library. He also had lunch before that and Rapunzel was still not home. He finished up his book and put it back on the shelf. He was walking back to his bedroom thinking about Rapunzel until he heard a squeal that sounded a lot like a terrified Pascal. He started running towards his room, knowing that if anything happened to Pascal, Rapunzel would be in mourning forever and blaming herself. He finally opened the doors to see something extremely strange. Pascal was flying around the room. He was squealing at the same time. His eyes were closed and it looked like he was being thrown around the room. Eugene was wide-eyed in fear of what was going on. Pascal came flying in his direction. Because of the force, it sent Eugene to the floor with Pascal on his chest. Pascal opened his eyes wide and full of fear. He was squeaking at Eugene with fear. Eugene didn't know what to do. He waited patiently for Rapunzel to come home. Rapunzel would know what to do. He sat there in the room holding onto Pascal for five hours until finally…

"Eugene! I'm home!" Eugene stuffed Pascal in his pocket and ran down the stairs to the entrance where Rapunzel stood with a ton of bags next to her. "Hey, Eugene! Did I miss dinner? Did you save me waffles?" Rapunzel has a smile on her bright face. She walked over and kissed Eugene on the cheek. Eugene wasn't at all happy. He knew he was the bearer of bad news. He looked at Rapunzel without a smile. "What's wrong, Eugene?" He let out a sigh.

"Something's happened to Pascal."


	2. Journal Entries

**A/N: I really hope this gets more reviews. It's kind of upsetting that I only have one review. But it's what keeps me going.**

**So you have witnessed the first nightmare. Poor Pascal. This chapter is just gonna be an explanation of Rapunzels past with Freddy. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

"Something's happened to Pascal." Rapunzel's eyes widened.

"Is he dead?" Rapunzel asked with a scared face.

"No, he's right here." Eugene pulled Pascal out of his pocket to reveal Pascal. Pascal wasn't wearing his usual happy expression. Instead, he looked traumatized. Rapunzel took Pascal in her hands and held him. She finally looked up at Eugene.

"The one time I trust you to watch over him and I get a terrified Pascal? Eugene, what did you do to him?" Eugene chuckled at the thought that he was responsible for what happened.

"Rapunzel, I have no idea what happened. He was in our room, and when I came back from the library, he was…flying."Rapunzel narrowed her eyes at him.

"What do you mean by flying?" she almost whispered. Eugene still stared at her.

"Can we just get your bags into the room and talk about it in there?" Eugene grabbed a couple bags after setting Pascal on his shoulder. Rapunzel grabbed the rest and sprinted up the stairs. She wanted to know what on earth happened. Finally they set her bags down and Rapunzel was waiting on the bed motioning for Eugene to join her.

"So what did you mean by flying? Tell me everything."

"Look he was flying around the room and…we can talk about this tomorrow. We have to get to dinner." She grabbed his arm so that he wouldn't be able to leave.

"No. Tell me now. It's important."

"Look, I know that Pascal means a lot to you, but we can talk about this later. You need to eat."

"TELL ME!" Finally, Eugene let out a sigh and looked at her again.

"Okay, well, I was coming back from the library after reading a book, and when I opened the doors, Pascal was flying and screaming and he had his eyes shut. And then when he stopped freaking out, he came flying towards me sending me to the ground and squeaking at me. And he even got a small scrape on his foot. There, now you know. Let's eat!" He grabbed her and led her to the dining room where they ate. Rapunzel wasn't smiling now matter how much Eugene tried to make her smile.

Dinner ended very silently and Eugene and Rapunzel headed back to their room to sleep. But Rapunzel wasn't gonna sleep. Not yet.

Eugene was in his pajamas now and Rapunzel was in hers. Eugene started to lay down in bed to go to sleep until Rapunzel asked him a question.

"Did you have a weird dream last night?" Eugene looked over at her with a questioning look.

"Why?" Rapunzel still wasn't smiling.

"Just tell me."

"Yeah. But what does that have to do with anything?" Rapunzel sat straight up, pulled off the covers, and ran to the door. "Where are you going?" Rapunzel gave him a serious look.

"I'll be right back. But in the meantime, whatever you do, don't fall asleep. Don't let Pascal either. I'm gonna grab coffee. I need to tell you something." Eugene shrugged it off.

"Okay." He could stay up for a while. Rapunzel attempted giving him a small smile and left. As she walked down the hall, she thought about all of the times she had "weird dreams". Or as she called them, "Deathly nightmares". She would always tell Gothel whenever she had a weird dream, a bad dream or a deathly nightmare. Whenever she had a weird dream or bad dream, Gothel would tell her 'everything is fine. Go back to sleep'. But whenever she had a deathly nightmare, Gothel made sure she sat in Rapunzel's room all night to wake her up if she had a nightmare again. But she hadn't had a deathly nightmare in 5 years. And that was before she had Pascal. She had Pascal since she turned 16. Before Pascal, she had a butterfly, a bird, a squirrel, a frog, and a spider. All of them ended up dead. They all had deathly nightmares. Rapunzel hoped that the deathly nightmare wouldn't get Pascal, but she was wrong.

She was now walking up the stair with 2 cups of coffee on a small tray. She opened the doors to her room and it was exactly the way she left. Eugene was sitting up on the bed, fully awake. Rapunzel set the tray down at the end of the bed and handed one to Eugene. Eugene took a sip and held it while Rapunzel sat back down in bed.

"So what was it that you wanted to tell me?" Rapunzel sighed and took a drink before starting.

"Well, I'm gonna tell you a true story that might horrify you." Eugene continued to look at her. "I don't want you to sleep without anyone watching, okay? This will explain why." She grabbed a book out of the drawer next to her. It was her diary. "There's a few entries in here that talk about this guy. Was there a guy in your dream?" Eugene nodded.

"He was wearing a brown hat and a red and green sweater. And it looked like he had knives on his fingers."

"That's enough to know this guy is getting to you too."

"What are you talking about?"

Rapunzel opened the diary. "January 17th, 1868. I was 6 years old. I have just woken up from the scariest dream I have ever had. There was a man in my dream and he wore a brown hat and a red and green top. He also had scary knives on his right hand. Lilly, my butterfly, had the same dream too."

"You had a butterfly?"

"Had. Not anymore." She flipped the page. "January 18th, 1868. Lilly's dead. She died from the scary man. I could tell. I was awake and was watching. Her wings were ripped to shreds and she was smeared across the wall."

"I'm not gonna lie, that's a little freaky."

"May 4th, 1873. I was 11. I had that freaky dream again from 5 years ago. He came back and Britney, my bird, had the same dream. She told me about it and how he tried to hurt her. I wonder if this will turn out like last time." She flipped the page. "May 5th, 1873. It did. Britney is dead. She was having a seizure of some kind. She stopped breathing and died. I'm kinda scared of this guy now. What's gonna happen if he gets Mother?"

"So your bird had a seizure and died. What does that have to do with me?" She flipped a few more pages.

"October 28th, 1874. I was 13. I had the nightmare again. I tried to find out as much as possible. Here's what I have. He lives in a boiler room. His name is Freddy Krueger. But that's all I found out so far. Chris, my squirrel, had the same dream. I'm afraid he's gonna die too." She flipped the page. "October 29th, 1874. Chris died. He was in the air when he suddenly burst into flames."

"Yikes." Eugene was drinking his coffee. He started to read over her shoulder. He was kinda freaked out by these stories.

"February 15th, 1875. I had the nightmare again. I found out another thing. He was a child murderer. I always end up in this house with a red door and barred windows. It also has columns in the front. 1428 Elm Street is its location. I never want to go there. It's creepy. And the little girls on the front lawn keep singing that song. '1, 2, Freddy's coming for you.' It's creepy. I found out that Jeff, my frog, had the same dream. No doubt he'll die tomorrow." She flipped the page. "February 16th, 1875. I was right. He died today. I don't know how. I was asleep when I found him on the chair, dead."

Eugene groaned. He took another drink of coffee. "So how long is this…strange story?" Rapunzel looked at him.

"I think there's only two more entries." With that she flipped a couple more pages. "December 27th, 1875. I was 14. I had a 'Deathly nightmare again. I just wonder when he's gonna quit invading my sleep. Hopefully, he will soon. I'm getting tired of it. So is Riley, my spider. She had a nightmare too. I'm expecting her death tomorrow morning. Of course I'm not telling her that. She'd flip and make cobwebs all over my room like when I told her about how Mother hates spiders. When she gets nervous, she makes cobwebs." She flipped the page. "December 28th, 1875. Riley is dead. She was wrapped in her own web and stabbed a million times. I watched in horror as my friend died. The bad part is that I was expecting this." Rapunzel flipped a few more pages.

"I thought that was it." Rapunzel looked at her husband.

"Just a little something extra." She finally found the page. "May 24th, 1879. Tomorrow is my 18th birthday. I'm awake in the middle of the night to tell you about this guy who is with me right taking me to see the lights. I think I like him. But now I wonder: If I get close to him, would he leave me just like my other friends? I'm still ecstatic that Pascal is still alive. I just fear that the way Mother says he'll leave me isn't the way I think he will. I fear that he'll die from Freddy. It's strange I haven't had a nightmare in like 3 years. Maybe, he's done." She closed the diary and put it back in the drawer. She faced Eugene. "But it's not over. He's still here. And he's gonna try to kill you and Pascal." A tear fell down her cheek. Eugene wiped it away.

"Hey," he held her tightly in a warm embrace. "It's alright. I'm not gonna die. I won't let Pascal die either. We'll be fine. Why don't you go to sleep and I'll wake you if it looks like you're having a nightmare?" Rapunzel smiled.

"That would be fine." She got under the blankets and Eugene sat in the chair, drinking his coffee. She closed her eyes and quickly fell asleep.

**A/N: Alright, next chapter, we're gonna see what goes on between Freddy and Rapunzel.**


	3. Freddy's First Appearance

**A/N:It's been years I know. But I'll be updating this story a bit more often now.**

Rapunzel woke up.

But she wasn't actually awake.

She knew that she was in the dream. Freddy was gonna pop up somewhere soon. She could feel it in her surroundings. She looked around her and she saw that Eugene was asleep in a chair in the corner of her room. He was holding the tray of coffee in his hands, Pascal was sleeping next to him. She went over to tem and poked at Eugene's shoulder. He didn't wake. She shook his shoulder and still he didn't stir. She knew now that she was in the dream. What made her absolutely certain was when she lloked at her bedroom door. It was deep red. She walked over to it and saw four little windows in pie shapes at the top of the door. Under it she saw thouse four numbers: 1428.

She really meant to back up away from the door and back to her bedroom but when she lloked around, she wasn't in her bedroom. She was on Elm Street now. And there was no way of escape. She knew that there was no turning back so she did the only thing she could do. She went forward and progressed. She walked up to the door and opened it. Inside she saw stairs and a living room, and a hallway that led to a kitchen. She had to figure out why she kept having these dreams. So she was determined to stay here for as long as she can, no matter how much torture she would have to go through. She walked into the hallway and saw a closet door. The only light was seeping from the bottom of the door. She cautiously opened it and saw more stairs. She walked down them and found herself in a boiler room. Everything was hot and her clothes were burning. She was sweating up a storm and she was terrified. But she had to continue on. Quickly she walked into the room, deeper and deeper. She thought she heard something behind her. She swiftly twisted her head to look behind her. She didn't see anything but then again, he was always there. So she moved closer to where the sound was coming from.

Then as soon as she got to the large, horizontal pipe, she heard it again but in a different place. It was to her right. She was going to find him. And she was going to find him, now! She ran to the pipes ahead of her searching for the sound. But when she looked, there was nothing there.

"Freddy! Show yourself, coward!" Then she could finally make it out. It was the sound of blades scratching against metal. She hated that sound. She turned around, and above her on a ledge was Freddy himself, scraping his razored hand across a pipe. Rapunzel showed no weakness.

"Well, well, Rapunzel," He started in his deep voice. "Where's your hair?" Rapunzel just glared at him. She wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of answering. "Oh, I know. Maybe, it was that prince of yours." Rapunzel's eyes widened. He couldn't be talking about Eugene...could he? "Eugene. Am I right?" Rapunzel screamed and ran up the stairs to him. She pushed and shoved him to the ground.

"Don't you dare touch him!" She yelled. Freddy's razor hand got free and lunged at her chest. But she stopped it just in time. She grabbed a hold of his wrist and pushed it as hard as she could away from her. She wasn't as strong as him but it was worth a try. But then out of nowhere, Freddy disappeared. Leaving only his hat behind.

"Hey! Punzie!" She got up and turned behind her. Freddy was at the door entrance of the boiler room. He kicked it open. Rapunzel looked in and saw what was revealed. Eugene's sleeping form was shown in the corner chair. Pascal was sleeping on his lap. Rapunzel gasped. Freddy moved into the room and Rapunzel was frozen to the spot, eyes wide in fear for her love and her pet. "I think your prince deserves a visit." Then Rapunzel turned angry and got up, running for the door. But as she ran, she ran right into the door. It knocked her to the ground and when she looked back up the door was closed. She heard Freddy's laughter behind it. She got up and reached for the doorknob. It was locked and the longer she tried to open it, the hotter the knob got. It almost burned her. She pulled her hand away in pain and instead started pounding on the door.

"Eugene! Eugene! Eugene!" Then she heard a faint reponse.

"Rapunzel!" Rapunzel heard it behind the door. She was terrified. Had Freddy gotten to him? She couldn't give up like this. She looked around and found a long, spiky pipe. She picked it up and chucked it into the door. But instead, the pipe broke.

"Eugene!" She started crying and continued chanting his name like a prayer.

"Rapunzel!" She heard his voice again. But it wasn't from behind the door. It sounded like it was above her. She looked up at the ceiling but still didn't see anything different. But she kept hearing it. Where was it coming from? Then she felt something on her shoulders. She closed her eyes tight and grabbed onto whatever was holding her.

"Rapunzel! Wake up!" Then she opened her eyes. She was gripping onto Eugene's shoulders. Eugene stared at her.

"You were calling for me in your sleep. What happened?" But Rapunzel didn't answer. Instead she started crying and Eugene held her close, rubbing her back and telling her that everything was okay.

"Eugene, he was coming after you." Eugene looked down at the young woman crying in his arms.

"What do you mean? I was awake watching you the whole time."

"He saw you, or at least I think he did. And he separated us and locked me out. And he was in the room with you and Pascal. I was so scared that I was going to lose you."

"Well I'm here now." Rapunzel smiled a little and looked up at him. She kissed him lightly on the lips.

"Even though it was only about two hours, I've had enough sleep to last me the night. You should sleep. I'll stay awake and watch you."

"Rapunzel, I'll be fine. It's you we need to watch."

"I'm not taking any chances. I've lost too many people. I'm not going to lose you."

"Fine. I'll sleep. But don't worry too much." He laid down on the bed and Rapunzel sat in the chair and Pascal snuggled on her lap and fell asleep. She pet his head. "I hope to keep you, Pascal. I really hope that we can make it through."


End file.
